Hello again! Many thanks to those who faved and followed this story! It really means a lot to me to know that at least somebody enjoyed what I wrote. Anyway, on with the story:

"Wow. That's a hell of a line." Ash let his gaze slide along the line of people waiting to get into the show, hoping there might be some leftover tickets by the time they reach the front. He looked forward, to the Gym itself. The mere sight of it made him nervous. He began to feel a dull heat in his stomach and chest. He slowed his pace and stopped as he remembered what was soon to happen.

"Good thing I got the VIP tickets." Ash nodded in response. Brock stopped alongside him. "I'll bet it's been a long time since you've been here."

"Yeah. It has." Ash's mind began to wander as he spoke. He recalled wandering around the aquarium for the first time, trying to find the Gym Leader. Then his thoughts drifted to Misty. Her face filled the view of his mind's eye. Every feature exactly as he last saw it. He wondered if she looked any different.

"Well, we should get going inside. We don't want to sit in the back. That would make it hard for you to ogle Misty in her mermaid suit. Just like you did last time." Brock began to walk off. Ash stood there, his mind elsewhere.

"Yeah." Ash stood there for a few seconds, his thoughts on Misty, until something in his head clicked into place. "Hey! Wait! I'm not gonna 'ogle' her!" he yelled as he ran after Brock, who was already a fair bit ahead of him.

"Yeah, sure you're not. And I'm not gonna ogle her sisters. Heh! You know, if we both play our cards right, we could be related someday!" he said with a lovesick grin.

"That's a lotta ifs," Ash responded bluntly.

"Oh, come on Ash, have some confidence, you'll be fine!" Brock still had that all too familiar look on his face.

"Actually, I'm more worried about your ifs." Ash looked over at Brock, only to find that he was no longer paying attention to him. A small bead of drool was coming out of the corner of his mouth. Ash sighed deeply. He turned his gaze back to the path in front of him. The Cerulean Gym seemed to loom over him, like a dark tower where the ghosts of his past lay in wait.

As they reached the ticket counter, they passed by a sign for the show, a cardboard cutout of their guest star, Tyler Westin. He had never heard of him before the car ride over, and had no idea of what he looked like, until now. His insides lurched at how good-looking Tyler was. His stomach felt like it was twisting up into a knot as he stared at that perfect looking person. He looked over to the line and realized that most of the people were extremely excited preteen to teenage girls, holding photographs of this guy and pens, undoubtedly to get an autograph. It seemed that his worst fears were coming true. How could Misty resist this guy? he asked himself solemnly. What chance could I possibly have?

"That picture is definitely photoshopped." Brock's voice broke him from his trance of self-pity.

"What? Really?"

"Yeah, nobody looks that perfect." Brock's words gave him a bit of relief.

"But still. I mean, photoshopping can only do so much. Just look at him. And remember what I said earlier about Misty and teenage heart-throb?"

"Eh, whatever. I'll bet he has the personality of a drunken slowpoke. Come on, let's get inside." Ash tore his gaze from the cutout and began to walk toward the door. He looked back at the line of people. The number of teenage girls chomping at the bit to get inside rose as they got closer to the door. He could feel the fear wash over him as thoughts of Misty and this Tyler Westin crept into his mind.

Once they got past the ticketing agent, they walked into the front hall. More bittersweet memories came rushing back to him as they walked by familiar sights. He remembered the last time he saw Misty performing here. She had looked so beautiful that day, all those years ago. For awhile now, he had wished that she would wear her hair down more often, like she did in that show. He began to wonder if she was going to wear the same mermaid outfit.

They entered the pool room as Ash's thoughts began to wander to other aspects of Misty's outfit. The room seemed to be bigger than it was last time they were here. The seats extended further back, the pool took up much less of the room, even though it was the same size, and it looked much more like a theater than something from a water pokemon gym. They walked down they aisle to the VIP section at the front, which consisted of the first five rows, all of which were roped off. They showed their tickets to the guy who was letting people in and stepped inside.

"Wow, Brock. How'd you get seats this good?" Ash asked.

"You may not have spoken to Misty in over a year, but I have."

"So she knows we're here?" The dull burning in Ash's stomach intensified for a second.

"Well, she knows I have two tickets," Brock replied with a hint of slyness in his voice.

"So she knows you're here. But she doesn't know about me. So as far as she knows, you're on a date or something," Ash speculated. Brock stopped and pointed toward a pair of seats in the third row of the middle section.

"Looks like those are the best seats we can get. Let's take them before anyone else does." Brock stepped inside the row and took the seat, which was near the edge. Ash sat next to him, closer to the aisle, and took off his backpack. He unzipped the pack to reveal a sleeping Pikachu.

"Hey buddy, it's time to get up," he said to the creature as he pulled him out of the bag. He put him down on his lap, and Pikachu began to stir.

"Pikachupi?" Pikachu asked.

"No, Misty's not on yet, but she will be soon."

He relaxed into his chair as much as he could at the moment, when it seemed to suddenly dawn on him that he was about to see Misty. It was a strange feeling, and he felt like he should have felt it before now, but only just now did he actually feel as though he were about to see her. He started to get excited; to actually see her face after going so long with only pictures and memories to admire. Then he began to worry. What would he say to her? What would she say to him? Would she be mad? Would she even say anything at all? Would she run into his open arms and embrace him, tears of joy pouring from her eyes? Was he actually going to be able to see her in person? He had only been thinking about whether Misty felt the same as he did to consider such practical matters. For some reason, he found it comforting that she didn't know that he was here. He didn't know why, but that seemed to make everything easier.

About five minutes later, his thoughts were interrupted by the lights dimming and a familiar voice coming over the PA system. It was one of Misty's sisters' voices, Violet maybe, greeting the audience or something. Ash found himself unable to concentrate on the voice. His thoughts began to rage inside of his head, his emotions going along for the ride. Anxiety, anticipation, and apprehension all mixing together to form a boiling froth of sensation in his chest. His heartbeat began to thump inside of his neck and his cheeks started to heat up. The voice in the background went silent. Everything was silent. Then, a figure bubbled up from under the surface of the water, red hair cascading down to her shoulders, the crowd erupting as she rose above the surface. It was Misty, and she looked stunning. His memories paled in comparison to the figure on the stage. The reality of her crashed over him like a tidal wave as she flicked her wet hair behind her back. She was so familiar, yet so novel, and just as beautiful. She rose a bit more from the water, onto the edge of the pool, which was supposed to be a dock. Ash's eyes wandered to her body. She looked like she had been working out a bit.

"Wow, it's only been a few seconds and you're already ogling her," Brock whispered into his ear as the applause calmed down.

"I am not... Fine. I'm ogling her. But, for the record, I don't seem to have much control over what my eyes are doing."

"Oh, you've learned well from me." Brock chuckled a bit as Daisy came up from under the surface as well. Another burst of applause rang out, this one possibly louder. Daisy seemed to be playing a friend of Misty's character, as they were both mermaids, Daisy's first line was to ask why Misty looked so down. Then Misty began to speak. Her voice didn't disappoint him either. It was just as melodious as he remembered. From here on, Ash stopped paying attention to anything but Misty. Apparently she was a pretty good actress, a point on which Brock agreed. Her lines were all well executed, and she was very graceful. And her singing was entrancing. When she started singing for the first time, his mouth hung agape and his heart nearly melted.

From what Ash could tell, the plot pretty much mirrored that of the animated movie, except it was set in modern times. Misty wants to see what it'd be like to have legs and walk on them, and Daisy tries to talk her out of it, some witch looking mermaid tries to talk Misty into using black magic to get her wish. For a second, Ash wondered what they would change the prince to, then he realized that he'd be seeing this Tyler in person soon. He began to get nervous; he didn't want to see how he looked shirtless, which he was completely certain would happen.

Soon, Misty and Daisy had both returned to "the docks" and they both seemed to see someone coming and hid. Sure enough, Tyler Westin walks onto the docks, shirtless. The jumping teenagers, the wild shrieking, and raucous applause that accompanied his entrance were deafening. And he had abs, which elicited a surge of anxiety in Ash's stomach. He rubbed his own stomach, clenching his muscles, and just as he had suspected, he didn't think he would compare very well. Lily walked with Tyler, arm in arm. Tyler started saying his lines, and while his voice sounded smooth, his delivery was terrible. Ash also noticed that he was always glancing toward the same spot, which turned out to be a guy with brown hair in the front row holding up cards, presumably with his lines on them. Ash sighed and looked around him; all the preteen girls looked like they were on the edge of their seats.

Ash looked over to Misty again. She seemed to be looking into the audience from her "hiding place." Actually, she seemed to be looking in his general direction. In fact, she seemed to be looking him right in the eyes. Her head whipped over to her left. Ash could have sworn she was looking right at him, and that made his heart flutter a bit. Before Ash could think about this anymore, Brock interjected.

"Wow, this guy's pretty terrible," Brock whispered into his ear.

"He doesn't even know his lines either." Ash pointed at the brown-haired card guy. Brock had to crane his neck, but he saw the guy.

"Oh man, this is gonna be an interesting show."

Apparently, the prince was now the star quarterback at the local high school, who happens to sail as a hobby, and Lily was his ditzy girlfriend, who he didn't actually like very much, but only went out with because it was expected of him. Typical, Ash thought. Even he knew that was clichéd, and he lived in the wilderness most of the time.

The play continued on, Misty fell in love at first sight with quarterback guy, she went to the witch woman and got her legs, but the witch took away her speech. She went up to the surface and the quarterback guy finds her, and the rest. There were a few things that Ash couldn't help but notice: first, that Misty's acting quality dropped noticeably when she had to act alongside Tyler, and that Tyler seemed to be holding back words, like he wanted to say something other than what he was saying. On the first count, Ash figured that Tyler's bad acting was hard to work with or something. On the second count, he had no idea.

As the play progressed Ash got more and more tense. He knew what was coming. He had seen this coming since the moment he knew he was going to see Misty in a play. The kiss scene was coming. It made him want to run out of the room and sit in the hallway until it was all over, but Brock would certainly stop him. He just wanted to shut his eyes and ears so that he didn't have to watch Misty kiss another man. He seriously considered doing it, but he knew that the squealing from the teenage girls at the moment of the kiss would overcome any attempt to shield his ears. It would be best if he knew when it was coming, and it was coming soon. He remembered enough of the movie to know that much. As each moment passed, he got tenser, the dull ache of anxiety in his gut became a stinging pain.

Then it came. Tyler was holding Misty in his arms, and they were inching closer together. He could hear the beginnings of squeals coming from all around him, while his gut was beginning to squeal in a much different way. Time seemed to slow to a standstill and his heartbeat once again started thumping his neck. He began to recoil back into his seat, his eyes unable to be wrenched away from the nightmare in front of him. And then it happened. Their lips were touching. The squealing went into full-bore. Ash looked at Misty, just to see what she would do. She seemed to freeze, her eyes looked like they were clenched shut. She was almost lifeless. Tyler, however, seemed to be going at it. He was doing all sorts of things with his mouth. Ash felt a bit sick to his stomach watching him, so he looked back to Misty. She started to back away, but Tyler just went forward with her. Then she started to pull away from him, as if to say "nope, this scene is over." Ash had no idea what to make of what he just saw.

"Huh, Misty looks like she wants to wash her mouth out with bleach. Maybe you're not as bad off as you think." Brock's words calmed Ash's mind a bit.

"Maybe." That was all Ash could manage to say. He sat silently for the rest of the play, thinking, trying to decide if both Brock and his eyes were just telling him what he wanted to hear, or if Misty might really have no interest in the guy every girl on the planet seemed to want. The play ended promptly, everyone applauded, the cast bowed and everyone started to shuffle out of the theater. Ash and Brock stayed in their seats, waiting for the room to clear out.

"Well, I enjoyed that. Girls in bikinis, Misty's sisters in bikinis. Yep, I enjoyed that." Ash sighed at Brock. "So what'd you think?"

"Uh... Misty looks... good. It's good to see her again. But..."

"The kiss? Those abs?"

"...Yeah."

"Well, why don't we go ask Misty about how she feels about those two things." Brock started to walk into the aisle and toward the door. Suddenly Ash remembered that he would actually be talking to Misty soon. Upon realizing this, he started to panic. He sprung up, his pikachu scampering from his lap to his shoulder.

"Hey, wait! Can't we talk to her about normal things?"

"Y'know, I get the feeling that she's gonna start talking about him anyway." Brock looked back at him and gave a crafty grin. As he walked out the door to the main hallway, Ash started to run after him.

"What? What's that supposed to me- WAAA!" Ash felt something hit his left shoulder just before he lost his footing. He began to fall over, flailing his arms in an attempt to regain his balance. He fell onto his back with a thud, slightly dizzy from the impact. He looked over to his left, to see a man on his knees over a large box and bunch of papers, splayed out over the floor. Pikachu had jumped from his shoulder before the fall and stood next to him. "I'm sorry. What happened?"

"Oh, uh, we ran into each other and I dropped my box." The man looked to be in his mid twenties, he was wearing a gray suit and his brown hair was slicked back. He was a bit large, frankly, and looked a bit nervous.

"Here, let me help you clean up you papers." Ash caught a glance at one of the papers as he got up to help the man; it was a head shot of Tyler Westin. Ash looked around to see that all the papers were head shots of Tyler. Suddenly a shout came from behind him.

"Hey! Marvin! What the hell are you doing?!" Ash turned his head. Tyler Westin was standing a few feet behind him, arms crossed, looking rather angry. The brown-haired man jumped up and stood there, hunched over, rubbing his hands together anxiously.

"Oh, M-mr. Westin, sir, I-I was just picking up your pictures... sir."

"You dropped my pictures!? You clumsy little... I can't give my fans dirty pictures! Management's gonna hear about this, and you'll never work in showbiz again!" He was practically screaming at Marvin. Marvin looked intimidated by him, too. It was all starting to rub Ash the wrong way.

"Hey, leave him alone. It was an accident," Ash said in a relatively calm manner.

"And who the hell do you think you are?!"

"Does it matter? We just ran into each other and your pictures got dropped." Ash's voice was starting to get louder.

"Oh, so it was you! You better apologize to me for damaging my property, and to my fans for keeping them waiting for their autographs, kid." He started to get up in Ash's face. That made Ash angry. Pikachu started to growl at Tyler from his shoulder-top perch.

"I'm not apologizing to you! You should be apologizing to Marvin for yelling at him!"

"Do you even know who I am, kid?!" He looked at Marvin, and back to Ash. "Okay, I'll apologize. I'm sorry, Marvin. I'm sorry you're such a fatass nerd! Happy, kid?"

"No, I'm not. Now apologize for real," Ash ordered emphatically.

"You know what? Imma give you a pass. You don't seem to know who I am, so I'm not gonna deck you in the face." He started laughing. Pikachu's cheeks lit up in defense of his trainer. "Oh, look at the terrifying pikachu! I'm so scared!" He and his entourage all started laughing at Ash's friend. Ash gritted his teeth and clenched his fists. Then a familiar voice called out from behind him.

"Ash!" He turned around to see Misty running toward him.

"Pikachupi!" Pikachu chirped excitedly. Ash's mind was suddenly jumbled. He wasn't sure which to feel, anger at Tyler or elation that Misty seemed to be happy to see him. Before he knew it Misty was hugging him firmly. He held his arms out in confusion for a few seconds, eventually returning the embrace. His anger was quickly supplanted by joy. Misty was happy to see him. It sounded trivial, but that made him feel happier than he could have imagined it would.

"It's been so long. I've missed you," Misty said.

"Really? Uh, I mean, me too." Misty giggled a bit at this, but was interrupted.

"You know this loser, Mist?" Tyler asked. This riled Ash up on two points: first, he wasn't a loser, second, only he could call her "Mist."

"Okay, this loser is my best friend, and only I can call him 'loser.' And stop calling me 'Mist!'" She was quite insistent on that last point.

"Oh, swag, swag," he responded, indifferently, his hands in his pockets. Misty seemed to be balling her hands up into fists. Marvin went over to her, placed his hand on one of her fists, and shook his head a bit.

"And what's going on here, anyway?" she asked through clenched teeth.

"He knocked over my pictures!" Tyler accused, pointing at Ash.

"It was an accident! I bumped into Marvin and the pictures fell and now he's yelling at me and insulting me!" Ash retorted.

"Tyler... just go over there and talk to your fans or something," Misty replied.

"Not even a kiss goodbye? You don't want that kiss on stage to be the last one, do you?" Ash felt a rush of anger and jealousy.

"Over there," Misty ordered, pointing to her left.

"Fine, fine. Just get my stuff over here pronto, fatass! Alright, swag," he said, as if that were some kind of farewell. Ash began to wonder what the word "swag" meant. It was silent for a few seconds, until Misty lost it a bit.

"I swear, if I have to hear that kid say 'swag' one more time... I'll get my mallet and... and I don't even know! If it weren't for my sisters and their precious reputation and that kid's lawyers... I'd smash his face in!" Misty was making all sorts of gestures and gesticulations and facial expressions, Ash couldn't help but smile. Also, the fact that Misty seemed to dislike this guy contributed to his grin.

"Sorry, but what does 'swag' even mean?" Ash asked through small chuckles.

"It can mean anything. So it ends up meaning nothing," Marvin explained.

"And he will not stop saying it!" Misty added, frustration lacing her voice.

"I even had to hold up line cards to... well, they were to remind him of his lines, but on the bottom of every card, we had to put 'don't say swag' in capital letters to stop him from saying it." Ash began to laugh a bit at this notion. After he was done explaining, Marvin sighed and stooped over to resume picking up the photos of Tyler.

"Here, let me help you with that," Ash offered as he knelt. Misty joined them both soon after.

"Thanks... Ash, was it? Thanks for standing up to him for me. I could never get up the nerve to do it myself." Marvin sounded truly grateful.

"Well, I could never watch someone get picked on and not do anything."

"And I'm sorry for his behavior. He's used to being treated with more, ah... reverence. He's a bit of a, ah... child of privilege."

"So he's a spoiled brat?" Ash asked bluntly.

"Yeah... Yeah, pretty much," Marvin responded.

"So how'd ya end up workin' for him?" Ash wondered.

"I work for his management agency. They sent me out to be his assistant as my first assignment. This isn't the sort of thing I wanted to do, but it seemed like a good way to connect with people in the business."

"What is the sort of thing you wanna do?"

"I want to be a director." Marvin started to get starry-eyed. "It's what I've always wanted to do, ever since I was a child. I want to take movies, or T.V. shows, o-or plays and turn the lines on the script into something worth watching."

"We even gave him the chance to, with this play. Once we got to know him, we let him direct all the scenes without Tyler in them," Misty added.

"He refused to take orders from me. But I got billed as the co-director!"

"You know, the offer's still on the table. You can quit working for him and work for us," Misty proposed.

"I said I'll think about it. I'd love to, but I think I'm too young for it. And plus, I don't know if I could work up the courage to quit. And I-"

"Oh, stop making excuses! You hate it, so quit." Misty was making a lot of sense.

"I said I'd think about it." They finished picking up the pictures, pens and assorted other stuff. Marvin sighed. "Well, I guess I'll be seeing you around. I'll be in touch. And thanks again, Ash."

"See ya. Good luck." Misty waved at him and he gave a small wave back. Misty turned toward Ash. His heart started to beat faster. Adrenaline began to surge into his veins. It was just the two of them now.

"So, Ash. It's been awhile, hasn't it?" she said, much more calmly than he had anticipated. Pikachu squeaked happily and jumped into her arms. "Oh, I missed you too Pikachu." Ash smiled at the cute scene. His stomach began to become filled with the proverbial butterfree.

"Yeah, I thought you'd be mad at me for not calling you."

"I was, for a long time. Then Brock said something that made it all make sense, and I realized that it was both our faults. So I'm just happy you're here." Ash was extremely relieved to hear that

"Lemme guess. He said that I stopped calling you because I thought you were too busy, and you stopped calling me because I stopped calling you, and I continued not calling you because you weren't calling me, and so on."

"He said it to you too?"

"I guess so."

"Where is he, anyway? He should be around here somewhere."

"He was walkin' that way when I bumped into Marvin. We should go look for him."

"Yeah, and we can catch up on old times while we look."

Suddenly, Ash felt a tap on his shoulder. He swung around to see Marvin.

"Uhh, Tyler want to have a word with you, Ash. Alone." He looked at Misty as the last word came out of his mouth. Ash sighed, but he obliged. Misty offered to wait for him. Ash followed Marvin to the table which had been set up for Tyler, undoubtedly for him to sign autographs on. When they reached the table, Tyler stood and took a menacing posture.

"Look, kid. I see the way you and my girl over there are talkin' to each other, and I don't like it." Ash, once again, began to get ticked off.

"Who said she was 'your girl?'" Ash asked, his tone soaked with vitriol.

"See, that's what I wanted to talk to you about. Because she is my girl. Swag?"

Can that even be a question? Ash thought. "Right. 'Cause I get the impression she doesn't see herself that way."

"She's been playing hard-to-get from day one. That'll change soon. But don't be mistaken, I get a piece of every girl I want, and I want a piece. And don't try to take my piece; you don't got enough swag to anyway. But if you do, imma be angry. Got it?" At this point, they were glaring at one another, eyes a few inches apart. Ash found himself disgusted with Tyler's demeanor toward women. His complete lack of respect for Misty only served to make Ash angrier.

"Oh, I've got it, all right."

"Good. Now go away."

"Gladly." Ash promptly turned away, a profoundly unsettling feeling in his gut. He walked toward Misty, who looked a bit confused. She was probably wondering what they were talking about, or why they looked so angry at each other. Ash was still trying to decide whether or not to tell her.

"What was that all about?" Misty asked as Ash arrived at her side.

"He doesn't like me very much." He decided it wasn't worth it to tell her. It would be certainly cause embarrassment to admit that Tyler was jealous of him over Misty. Plus, his words were probably just the empty threats of a spoiled child.

"I'm not surprised."

"Why not?"

"Uh... I just... you two don't seem like the type to get along... is all," she said, clearing her throat afterward. Ash looked back at her, to see what looked like the tail end of a blush, but that was probably just wishful thinking. All the same, his heart skipped a beat at the prospect.

"I guess not. We should go find Brock now." He turned back and began walking in the direction that Brock had gone. While they walked, he couldn't shake the feeling that something was wrong. There was something off about that guy; he could see it in his eyes. Ash tried to ignore it, but he couldn't help but feel that Tyler Westin might be more than some spoiled brat that viewed him as competition, that his threats might not be idle. These thoughts stayed in his head the rest of the day, gnawing at the back of his mind as he, Misty, and Brock reunited.

So that was the second chapter. I hope you enjoyed reading it! Reviews are greatly appreciated, praise and criticism alike. The next chapter will be up soon.